Good News for the Week

July 30, 2012

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Our two newest Neurosurgery residents, Eddie Yap and Seun Omofoye, attended the National Neurosurgery Boot Camp in Atlanta. Lead by the Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS) and supported by all of organized neurosurgery, there are 6 camps around the country that provide a simulation and didactic introduction to neurosurgery for first-year residents. They use drills, place ventriculostomies, lead simulated neurosurgical codes, and have didactic teaching on the basics of neurosurgery. For the second consecutive year, there was 100% participation from interns across all neurosurgery programs nationwide. In Atlanta, there were 13 faculty members representing nine residency programs. UNC was the only program, besides the host (Emory), to send more than one faculty; Drs. Eldad Hadar and Deanna Sasaki-Adams participated. Dr. Hadar delivered one of the nine lectures. This is a terrific program and we are pleased that both Drs. Hadar and Sasaki-Adams are playing meaningful roles.

The US News and World Report rankings for Hospitals came out in July as we reported. UNC Neurology/Neurosurgery has marched into the top quartile of centers around the country and we are working to enter the top 50 programs. Our combined UNC Neurosurgery sites rated well in the State of North Carolina. UNC-Chapel Hill was #3 in the State, our Pinehurst team tied for 5th, and Rex rated #8. By comparison, the three Duke Hospitals were rated #1 (DUMC), #5 (Durham Regional, tied with Pinehurst) and #15 (Duke Raleigh).

We are excited to announce that in August our Department be become part of the National Neurosurgery Quality and Outcomes Database (N²QOD). The N²QOD is the first prospective database of its kind for organized neurosurgery. We’ll submit our outcomes data along with other groups around the country. The goal is to find ways to improve patient care and safety, as well as to systematically evaluate the efficacy of Neurosurgical treatment. We will be able to benchmark ourselves against our peers nationally and see where we stand.